National briefs

▶Washington: Study finds 8.8 billion planets like ours

Space is vast, but it may not be so lonely after all: A study finds the Milky Way is teeming with billions of planets that are about the size of Earth, orbit stars just like our sun, and exist in the Goldilocks zone - not too hot and not too cold for life.

Astronomers using NASA data have calculated for the first time that in our galaxy alone, there are at least 8.8 billion stars with Earth-size planets in the habitable temperature zone.

The study was published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

For perspective, that's more Earth-like planets than there are people on Earth.

▶Iran: Huge anti-American rally held in Tehran

In Tehran's largest anti-U.S. rally in years, tens of thousands of demonstrators joined Monday in chants of "death to America" as hard-liners directed a show of resolve against President Hassan Rouhani's outreach to Washington.

Such American-bashing protests occur every year outside the former embassy compound to mark the anniversary of the 1979 takeover following the Islamic Revolution.

But the latest demonstration had a dual purpose of sending the boldest warning yet to Rouhani's government over whether it can expand dialogue with the U.S.

▶Germany: Trove of missing art discovered

German authorities are investigating a huge art find reported to include hundreds of works seized by the Nazis and considered missing for decades, officials said Monday.

The discovery was first reported by Germany's Focus magazine, which claimed Sunday that a cache of 1,500 works, including pieces by such masters as Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Emil Nolde, was found in a Munich apartment in early 2011.

These were largely modern or abstract works by artists that the regime of Adolf Hitler believed to be a corrupting influence on the German people.

▶Egypt: Morsi defiant in opening session of trial

President Mohammed Morsi rejected a court's authority to put him on trial Monday, saying he still was Egypt's leader and that those who overthrew him should face charges instead.

The trial, which was interrupted twice on its first day by shouting, was adjourned until Jan. 8 to allow lawyers time to review the case against Morsi and his 14 co-defendants - all prominent members of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected president, had been held at an undisclosed location since the military ousted him in a coup July 3.

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Email this article

National briefs

Space is vast, but it may not be so lonely after all: A study finds the Milky Way is teeming with billions of planets that are about the size of Earth, orbit stars just like our sun, and exist in the